


The Blurry Line Between Duty and Friendship

by FlawedVictori



Series: The Rebellious Year [3]
Category: The Wheel and the Way
Genre: Alcohol, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 15:50:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11740233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlawedVictori/pseuds/FlawedVictori
Summary: Of all the houses in Sunwall, a drunk Mazoga manages to wind up on hers.





	The Blurry Line Between Duty and Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Another piece for the Wheel and the Way, an awesome narrative actual-play podcast I’m on. (Sorry for all the stuff about these two, I just love them a lot)

There were countless doorsteps in Sunwall, and yet, Mazoga Shattersky had found her way to hers.

Which was just weird, really, considering just how off-the-grid her current residence was.

The home was officially owned by a Miss Elizabeth Carver, an octogenarian who’d moved to town and bought a home with the money her granddaughter, a famous mage and adventurer she was more than willing to talk your ear off about, had given her after her newest dig.

Her disguise skills might have been second-rate next to Mazoga’s magic tricks, and paled in comparison to the stuff the cute Duggan girl could do, but they had been more than good enough to buy a home right under the merchant guild’s noses.

(They’d charged her an arm and a leg for it, of course, but that was what happened when the rich took over a town)

She’d been meaning to make it a safehouse for the resistance… but somehow she’d never gotten around to it.

And, honestly, it’d been nice having a place to go and sleep, away from everyone else and the stress of it all, a place no one, not even Mayor Breard, had known about.

Which really just added to the mystery of how, exactly, Mazoga had found her.

Or why she was standing on her doorstep at three in the morning.

Or why she could smell liquor…

“Captain?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you out at this time of night? And where’s your disguise?” She chewed on her lip as she waited for a response that didn’t come. “Mazoga?” She finally asked. “Are you oka-”

There was a sound she vaguely registered as a sob, and her arms were suddenly full of shaking, crying orc.

“Mazoga?” She asked again, her arms moving on their own, pulling her close and stepping into the house even as she scanned the road for anyone chasing her partner. A small, sly part of her brain noted that, as good and tight as it looked on her, Mazoga’s uniform somehow _obscured_ the curves she’d always thought it was meant to showcase, and she shoves that thought away in favor of more important things. “What’s wrong? Is everyone okay?”

“Ev-everyone-” Mazoga managed through her sobs. “Everyone always leaves…”

Rose blinked. “What? Mazoga, what are you talking about? Who left?”

Mazoga just sobs harder, and Rose takes a seat on the sofa, pulling the wizard down beside her.

She’d been doing a bit of work on her newest manuscript when she’d heard the movement outside, and a cup of her favorite tea was sitting beside her notes on her coffee table.

She pressed it into Mazoga’s hands without a second thought, and watched as she composed herself enough to take a sip, the cup visibly shaking.

Rose lays a hand on her shoulder, and gives it a soft squeeze. “I’m here. What’s wrong?”

“It’s… it’s just.” Mazoga says, and now that the sobbing has slowed down, she can hear the slur to her words, though she can’t quite smell anything strong on her.

Rose is hit with the sudden certainty that if Mazoga had been anyone else at that moment, they would have been hitting the ground outside her door about then.

She’d never been the type to put up with drunks.

“Every…” Mazoga says, drawing a deep breath and seeming to hunch in on herself. “Everyone I… Everyone I love… leaves. Every single person. D-dad, S-sub-Siobhan, Kir-“ The dam broke, then, a fresh round of sobs starting up, and Rose pulls her into a quick, one-armed hug, careful not to make her spill the tea. “Why does everyone leave? Why? Am- Am I not g-”

“Shhh.” Rose murmured, squeezing a bit harder. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.” She’s not even sure what she’s saying at that point, just speaking to let her know she’s _there_ , that she’s not alone.

“I-They all…” Mazoga swallows. “Everyone… everyone left.” She says, in a small voice that’s so unlike her, and Rose pulls her into a full hug, wrapping her arms around her partner.

“Am I…” She continues, in that same voice. “Am I just… not enough? Not good enough, not pretty enough, not as smart as him, not as good as them, I’m, I’m just…”

“Mazoga…” Rose murmurs, running a hand up and down her back. “It’s okay, you’re okay-”

“I’m not-” Mazoga shudders. “I’m not.” _**Sob**_. I’m just a,” _**Sob**_ “an overconfident, ugly, stupid failure of a daughter and a friend and I’m not,” _**Sob**_ “not ever going to be worthy of the title of wizard, I’m just a,” _**Sob**_. “a fucking _murderer_.” She buried her face into Rose’s neck, sobbing harder than ever, and Rose started stroking her hair, not knowing where to even begin to help.

“Shhh.” Rose manages, her mind racing to try and find some way to ease her pain. “You know, you’ve saved my life like a dozen times, by now? Without you, I’d be facedown in a ditch by now... or worse”

“B-but…everyone-” Mazoga started, and Rose shook her head, squeezing a bit tighter.

“Mazoga.” She says, swallowing. “None of that was your fault, okay? It wasn’t because of you.”

Mazoga shakes her head, trying to push away to argue, and Rose gives her her space. “But, you-”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Rose says, more fire in her voice than she’d intended, but it quietens Mazoga down.

Mazoga stares at her with wide eyes, and so she continues. “People have left, Mazoga… but it’s not because of you, okay? I promise, there’s _nothing_ lacking about you.” She husks a bit, trying for a bit of their usual levity, and was rewarded with a slightly slurred giggle.

“You always know how to make me feel better.” Mazoga says, grinning despite herself, and Rose wants to roll her eyes and call her a moody drunk… but part of her knows Mazoga’s right.

“Why don’t I make us some tea, and we’ll relax for a bit?” She suggests, eyeing the overturned cup on the other side of the sofa, and Mazoga gives it a guilty glance.

“I can fix that?” She offers, but Rose just shakes her head.

“When you’re sober, we’ll talk.” Rose says, and disappears into the kitchen.

/

She returns fairly quickly, balancing two cups on two novels, and Mazoga is quick to take the drinks off the books, looking slightly offended at the thought of anyone, especially an author, treating a book like that… or from being woken from her little daze. It was hard to say.

Rose shoots her a grateful grin and settles onto beside her on the sofa, careful to avoid the cushion with the tea all over it.

“Which would you prefer?” She asks, showing Mazoga the books, and Mazoga shrugs.

“Surprise me?” She asks, and snuggles into Rose’s side. “Or just read your favorite, anything is fine.”

_Oh._

She wraps an arm around Mazoga’s shoulder and opens the book, sighing inwardly.

She clears her throat, and starts to read aloud, ignoring the feeling of Mazoga’s… _everything_ pressing into her side.

That line of thinking can wait.

She reads for what feels like mere moments, but the sun’s light is filtering through her blinds and Mazoga is snoozing away by the time she awakens from her reverie and sets the book aside, intent on getting _some_ sleep.

It occurs to her that having her snuggled into her side as she sits nearly bolt-upright on her sofa is far more comfortable than it should be… But by then, sleep is taking her.

She pulls Mazoga a bit closer, and flits off to join her in dreamland, matching smiles on their faces. 


End file.
